This article was published as a 3 part series in the April, May, and June 2002 issues of Mules and More Magazine.

 AROUND OUR HOUSE - SELECTING THE PERFORMANCE DONKEY

Tex S. Taylor, D.V.M.

Ethel V. Taylor 

It is our understanding that the donkey section of the Mules and More Magazine is intended as a forum to share donkey happenings, ideas and experiences.  This article and perhaps others to follow published under the lead in “around our house” is just that.  They will share observations, experiences, prejudices, opinions, and probably some erroneous information on a variety of donkey subjects.  They may or may not be of value to others, but they are the criteria that shape the breeding, training and exhibiting of large performance donkeys at Bramoth Farm today.  Tomorrow it may be totally different.   

Please note for the sake of writing and reading simplicity we will incorrectly refer to mammoth asses as mammoth donkeys or just large donkeys. 

At our farm we envision two goals.  The first is to maintain a nucleus of the big old style draft type mammoth Jackstock.  The second is to breed for mammoth performance donkeys suitable to today’s recreational donkey interests.  Although there is some crossbreeding of these animals they represent two separate herds.  Notice there is no mention of producing sires for today’s saddle mule enthusiasts.  We feel that currently requires a different type animal.  Certainly, many of our jacks will be good potential mule sires, but we envision all of them will have a place as good working geldings, even those from the draft jennets.   

The first item to share should probably be our definition of a performance donkey.  Around our house the term performance donkey translates into show donkey.  They may never leave the farm nor enter a show, but they are expected to have those qualities and skills that will allow them to enter any major donkey and mule show with expectations of being competitive.  The show ring is where we will measure our progress.  This focuses on harness and saddle classes, not necessarily halter classes.  There are breeders whose goal is to produce the ultimate conformation animal.  We have chosen not to try to produce both at the same time.  If they do their job well and we do our job well, can you imagine what crossing the two strains might produce in a few years.   

We are focusing our efforts on breeding for animals to compete in pleasure driving, obstacle driving, snigging, trail, western pleasure, donkeymanship and reined working donkey.  A donkey competent in these classes can easily handle classes like reinsmanship, gambler’s choice, ranch riding, game classes and with a little work speed events.  Although we have had some success in them, we try to minimize our participation in timed events. 

A large mammoth donkey capable of competing in the previously listed events would undoubtedly make an acceptable mount for English and dressage classes. 

Today’s performance donkey should be able to walk, trot, lope and perform at some speed beyond a lope.  Transitions from one gait to another should be made smoothly and over a short distance.  Transitions of gait should be made in response to the rider’s command and not unilaterally decided upon by the donkey.  The performance donkey should side pass and comfortably do hindquarter and forehand turns.  It should work obstacles in harness and under saddle and it should back freely on minimal rein pressure.  The ability to do flying lead changes, sliding stops and spins must be present.  These skills will soon be requirements for success.   

Now, before we leave the topic of required skills, let’s address one other issue.  We cannot count the times people have told us “I don’t want or I don’t need a show donkey, I just want to trail or pleasure ride or pleasure drive”.  Granted, many people’s needs or wants can well be served by a “walk trot donkey”, but is it not, perhaps, more important to have many of these performance skills in the trail and pleasure animal than in the competitive show animal?  If we ride an animal that won’t side pass, won’t back, won’t stop and stand or refuses obstacles, we would prefer to be in the show ring and not in the woods or along a busy roadway.  In the show ring, these inadequacies prevent the winning of a ribbon.  What could be the consequences on the outside? 

Most of us have or will start our performance donkey association, not by selecting a donkey for performance, but by electing to performance train a donkeys) that we already have.  It may be one we raised, was given to us, we rescued it or we bought it because of those big soft eyes.  We love the donkey and wanted) to expand the enjoyment of our time spent with it.  We may or may not be limited in the level to which the donkey can master performance training.  We really don’t care.  In theses cases, we don’t need to worry about selecting a performance donkey, we direct our efforts more to selecting a trainer or improving our own training skills.  

As you read this article keep in mind that at Bramoth farm we are trying to raise better performance donkeys.  We raise most of the animals we train.  Usually if we train animals that are not raised on the farm they are of a similar bloodline.  Our selection process starts the day the foal is born.  Our animals are not trained because we love them; they are trained because we think they will make good performance animals.  We learn to love those that train well.  We hope those that don’t train well will become loved by others.   

This is intended to be about selection and not about training, but there are some training issues that are pertinent to selection.  Like people, not all donkeys learn at the same rate, nor do they respond maximally to the same techniques.  Neither do they always have the ability to excel in events of our selection.  It is expected that a good trainer can, with a little time, read the donkey’s personality and adjust their methods to provide maximum progress by the donkey.  How many of us are really that good?  In actuality, qualified, experienced donkey trainers that accept outside animals are pretty rare.  If you are selecting an animal to be trained, let your trainer aid in the selection.  Whether doing it yourself or employing a trainer the best results will be attained by insuring the best possible match of donkey personality to trainer methods.  Bad match-ups often produce poor results and neither party may be at fault. 

 There is a plethora of trainers, training clinics, videos on training, well meaning friends and self-declared experts available to the donkey owner.  Those qualified and seriously addressing donkeys are limited in number.  We all draw from mule and horse techniques as we develop our individual approaches to donkey training.  In the final formulation we must adapt or adopt techniques that apply to donkeys.  These techniques must fit our personality, we must believe in them, and they must be effective using the time we have available to apply them.  Otherwise the donkeys potential will not be achieved.

 Now we will address some of the specific characteristics and qualities we look for in our performance donkeys.  These are not necessarily in the order of importance.

Color              One’s first reaction would be that color is purely a personal preference issue.  That is not necessarily the case with big donkeys.  Unlike the horse where most bloodlines and breeds are represented by a multiple number of colors, mammoth jackstock has been bred for color in many settings.  The overall gene pool is very small.  It is not uncommon for the color of the donkey to be very indicative of temperament, movement and trainability.  Many people do select their donkeys by color, around our house we do too, but for a different reason.  We use it as a forecaster of trainability.  In our hands using our techniques, the blacks train easier than the reds.  We have some spotteds coming on and look forward to seeing where they fit.  

Size      We like for our performance donkeys to be between 58" and 62".  We often drive smaller animals, but if you see us riding one 57' or less and you like what you see, check with us.  If it doesn’t belong to someone else, it is for sale.  Just because we like the bigger donkeys, doesn’t mean we feel they all should be big.  For ridding the real issue should be to match the size of the rider to the size of the donkey.  The two should present a pleasing balanced appearance.  Suitability of rider to mount is or should be part of the judging criteria.  Small donkeys need to be ridden by small people.  The exception to this is that we cannot always find small trainers to prepare the small donkey for its show career with a small rider. 

A lot has been said and written about the donkey’s ability to carry heavy loads.  In many developing countries they carry heavy loads that represent 40-50-100% of their body weight.  They often carry these loads for long distances and many hours.  They can do that.  However, it has its price.  The average life expectancy (for the donkey) in many of the countries is less than half that for donkeys in the United States.  There are also many work related injuries.  Further note should be made that these heavy loads are usually carried at a walk.  Sometimes at a trot, but rarely at a lope.  They do not hold the lope, hand gallop, change leads, side pass or do precise pivots under these loads.  When our rider and tack weight gets to 25-30% of the animals body weight, we probably need to give serious consideration to how long we ride.  Much above that and we probably should not ride.

 Adding to the concern about weight is balance.  How many of us are good enough rider’s to keep our weight appropriately centered for the animal’s best comfort and performance when we are on an undersized animal.  Couple this with the fact that a saddle for a large person is unlikely to fit a small animal.  It is difficult enough to fit a large person’s saddle to a large donkey. 

The final point relative to size might be better suited to a discussion of conformation.  That is bone.  Experience with our donkeys and observations of others suggests that the performance donkey needs a little more bone than is preferred for a saddle mule sire.  It appears that the lighter boned animals may have more lameness problems and may have a shorter working career.  Since the donkey often has more upright digits and smaller feet it is not unexpected that they would be less tolerant of concussion than would a horse of equal size.

Conformation      No one questions that form leads to function or dysfunction.  We would all like to have perfect conformation in our animals, but no one has reached that point yet.  Few, if any, people would disagree that in general the standard donkeys and smaller mammoths are better conformed than the larger donkeys.  The miniatures, as a group are probably well ahead of the standards. 

 Do we know what correct conformation for the performance donkey really is?  In horse breeds, correct conformation seems to vary as specialized breed use is reached.  I believe we are beginning to see and will continue to see desirable variations in conformation as we widen the scope of our uses of donkeys and mules.  Certainly there are some conformation faults that are universally bad. 

 If we look at the big picture for performance animals and accept that the perfect animal is not yet available, what are the critical issues.  Just how serious is a little sickle hocked, a little cow hocked, legs a little close together or toe out conformation.  How much is too much?  Which of these conditions are truly the most likely to contribute to unsoundness?  Which are the most likely to be passed on to offspring?  How many of these conditions are truly genetic faults and not the results of inadequate or improper foot care and nutrition?  I think most people would be shocked at how often our so-called conformation faults are the results of environmental influences, or at least their degree of severity was influenced by them. 

 Just to muddy the water a little, consider this.  We know that the angles of the pelvic bones of donkeys are different from horses.  There are some early observations that as we widen the rear legs and round the rump of big donkeys we may be predisposing them to degenerative arthritis of the hips.  What will be the price for molding our impressions of correctness on the donkey?

 We believe there are a lot of people that talk about conformation and know what, to them, is correct conformation.  We believe there are very few people who know how to interpret the variations.  We do not include ourselves in that knowledgeable group.  We aren’t sure what the boundaries of tolerance for conformational traits are, and what traits are appropriately changed as we redefine the uses to which the animals are subjected.  However, that should be no surprise as our combined experience with performance use of donkeys is only a little over 35 years.

 The bright spot in all this is that there seems to be a steady increase in people wanting donkeys for all phases of performance.  If during the next 10-20 years we observe well we should be able to gather facts that will clarify just where each conformational feature fits. 

 In the meantime, around our house, we will pick the best conformation we can find on a big, good moving trainable donkey, and be very happy if each successive generation is just a little bit better.

 What about pretty?  No doubt the perfect conformationed animal would be a beauty.  We think many people confuse the two.  Pretty is desirable, but ugly does not necessarily interfere with function.  Many of the qualities we hear people really get serious about has little if anything to do with the animal’s ability to function.  Look at our human athletes.  The outstanding performers are not always the ones most pleasing to the eye.  We sort of like ugly if it is blue.  Ugly that is always last out of the arena is not to pretty.

Sex      For most people jennets or geldings are preferred for obvious reasons.  We started showing when Ethel was 10 years old.  Most of our training was directed toward preparing animals for her to show.  Jacks were not an option.  Since we are a breeding farm, we felt that to put some proven performance animals in the breeding herd would be of long-range value.  This further focused our training on jennets.  We have trained some jacks and some geldings.  We have not taken this to the same level we have taken the jennets nor have we extensively competed with the males.  It is our impression that the jennets are the easiest to train.  That is not to say that the jacks or geldings might not learn faster, it is just that it is easier and quicker to get the jennets really dependably broke.

 The Jacks and geldings do appear to be able to condition faster and work longer at more difficult tasks.   

Some jennets pose a problem for training and exhibiting during estrus.  In our experience the better trained they are the less of a problem this becomes.  It should be kept in mind that a significant percentage of geldings will show some degree of jack like behavior regardless of when they were castrated.

 Around our house we will probably always prefer jennets, but not by much.

Age      Our preference is to start them as two year olds.  We don’t imprint our foals and in fact they are handled very little until serious training is begun.  The best ones are usually those that are started as yearlings or two years old.  They are taught ground work and driving until at least three years of age.  At age three we start doing those things that they know how to do on the ground from the saddle.  Delaying groundwork until the animal is three years old and riding when they are ready also works well.  Sometimes the riding isn’t done until they are four years old.

 We have started some older animals.  They were in the 6-9 year range.  They do okay but seem to be a little harder or slower to train and don’t seem to ever be quiet as good as an animal of similar ability started younger. 

Movement      The most important thing about movement is that the performance donkey must have some.  Long before we address how a donkey moves we want to know if it moves.  What does it take to get it to move?  Does it seem to enjoy moving or does it move only when all other options have been exhausted?  If startled, does it depart at a trot, a lope or not at all?  The best performance candidates like to trot and lope.  They do it with minimal stimulation and usually go somewhere when they start. 

We can summarize what we look for in quality of movement by saying we want donkeys that move as much like Western performance horses as we can get. 

Attitude and Trainability      These two traits are so intertwined that we won’t try to separate them.  They are sometimes separated by the donkey.  Movement could almost be covered in this same area.  Breeding and bloodlines have a major impact on all three traits, but that topic will be left for another day. 

As mentioned, nearly all the animals we train are animals we raise.  We raise them more like cattle.  They are caught for vaccinations, foot trimming, deworming and other required procedures.  Otherwise they are left alone until training is begun.  This is primarily a time deficiency thing.  Our daily observations of these growing animals is focused on identifying those individuals showing qualities we feel would allow them to perform at or near the level demonstrated by national level competitive performance donkeys.  We look for animals that have acceptable eye appeal and exceptional awareness of their surroundings.  We want animals that react to subtle changes in their surroundings.   

If at feeding time, we throw an empty bucket into the air and yell real loudly when it hits the ground; we want the first donkey to reach the back of the pasture.  The one that left at a lope or a run.  In our experience, those that just stand around like a stump, will react the same way to training ques.  We don’t want to train a pet, we pet what is trained.  We want the animal that prefers the lope to the trot and the trot to the walk.    

Our training program requires the animal to learn with few repetitions.  They must have the ability to practice multiple skills during the same session.  We want animals that rarely if ever just sets his or her head and tries to bull their way to or from something.

Response to Training      Our final criteria for selecting a performance donkey is their response to training.  We have started or trained enough performance donkeys that we feel we can, in a relatively short time, form an accurate opinion as to whether or not a given animal will make what we want in the training program we use.

 Each animal is given a three-day or three-lesson evaluation.  They are worked in a square pen, a round pen and a large open area.  Their response to the early steps in ground control, round pen work and trail obstacles is observed.  Special attention is given to their willingness to demonstrate forward motion and their quality of movement.  An assessment of the speed with which they learn is made.  They are then placed in one of the following categories.  

1.  Animals that have the potential to become nationally competitive performance donkeys in our training program. 

2.  Animals that have the potential to become nationally competitive donkeys, but will probably require a major modification of our training program.

 3.  Animals that we don’t feel have the ability to become nationally competitive donkeys, but may excel in some events. 

 4.  Animals whose potential for performance does not justify our time investment.

Since we raise most of what we train, we usually identify the category C and D animals without ever having to test them.  When considering the category B and C animals a primary question is; “Do we have the time to modify our program for this animal or would he or she be better off under a different trainer?”

 Let us reiterate what we think are some important issues from these three articles.  Our ideas and methods are always changing.  We have very specific and narrow expectations for the donkeys we train.  We aim to select donkeys mentally and physically suited to our training program.  Currently we don’t have the time nor the inclination to modify our methods to suit other donkeys that might be even better than the ones we select.  Although we have worked successfully with donkeys of all sizes, we are discussing only the larger group. 

Our goal was to stimulate others to share their views and experiences with the readership.  There are some things that are always wrong and perhaps a few that are always right, but in general different people reach the same goal by different methods.  Sometimes it is almost shocking how different.  However, if we look a little closer it may be just as shocking how much alike these different methods are.